Many hospitals include a hospital pharmacy department that is responsible for dispensing medications to patients in various areas of the hospitals. In some hospitals, the medications are dispensed in a distributed environment with a central pharmacy (or multiple “central” pharmacies) and a number of medication dispensing apparatuses remotely situated in various locations throughout the hospital. The remotely-located medication dispensing apparatuses allow medications to be stored and dispensed closer to the location of patient care, which may provide a number of benefits, including both simplifying and speeding up the process of clinicians obtaining medications for their patients.
Among other things, a hospital pharmacy department may be responsible for tracking the medications stored and dispensed by the various medication dispensing apparatuses throughout a hospital. This may include identifying when medication refills are required at each medication dispensing apparatus and sending personnel to refill each medication dispensing apparatus with medications. There are often a number of inefficiencies in how hospital pharmacies typically handle the refilling process for medication dispensing apparatuses, including refilling medication dispensing apparatuses with medications when not required to meet medication-dispensing needs. This results in a number of problems, including additional and unnecessary work for pharmacy personnel and storing costly medications when those medications are not needed.